Thursday, March 13, 2014

Mysteries at the Museum!

Back in August I
posted about the Mysteries at the Museum crew being here at the museum to film
a segment for their show. If you missed it, you can see
that post here.

The show aired on
Thursday, March 6, and it featured a medicine bottle of silver nitrate in a
segment titled, “The World’s Oldest Profession!” You can see some photos from the episode
here.

The museum’s
photos are numbers five and six in the slide show. Number five is a great shot from our Pavilion
Hospital gallery, and number six shows the medicine bottle containing silver
nitrate. While I am thrilled to see the
photos and footage of the NMCWM, I do have to comment about the photo caption
which claims that silver nitrate was responsible for snuffing out the epidemic
of venereal disease in Nashville. Though
silver nitrate was used during the Civil War as a treatment, and it does have
antimicrobial properties, it is not a cure for venereal diseases.

So, what was
responsible? First, take a look at a
short portion of the Mysteries at the Museum segment here.

It was actually
the fact that the prostitutes of Nashville were licensed that was responsible
for bringing the epidemic under control in that area. When the women were
required to be examined by a doctor before being licensed, it meant that those who were displaying symptoms were not allowed to practice their
profession. Very simply, fewer prostitutes with STD
symptoms meant that fewer of their customers were infected.

A Nashville “Public Woman” license from
1863. National Archives image.

There is actually a bit more to the story of the Nashville prostitutes. Licensing them was only done after General Rosecrans first tried to literally send them up the river! To read an account of that click here.

That’s quite a story associated with a little medicine bottle!

Photos
courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, except where otherwise
noted.

About Me

This blog is from the time when I was the Curator at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. It was my job to care for the artifacts in the museum’s collection and to maintain the museum’s exhibits, and this blog allowed me to share some of the artifacts stories. Even though I am now working elsewhere, I hope you still enjoy these little glimpses into the museum's exhibits and collection!